Weird meeting
by grilledjellyfish
Summary: Zoro meets a 'fan' and is slightly out of his dephs... ;P


Author's notes:  
This is just some lil silliness I wrote because I don't wanna learn for Maths... Hope ya like it all!!! 

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"Boy... Where did Nami say was that pub"  
Brows ceased and one corner of his mouth pulled up in annoyance, Zoro looked up from the street he had been following for nearly an hour now and read the names of the various shops and restaurants lining the sidewalks.

The swords fighter was in the middle of a small port on an island somewhere between Jaya and... well, he didn't know where they were, but was sure Nami knew their exact position on the Grand Line by heart and with closed eyes.

The probelem was that he also didn't really know where he was 'right now'.

Which happened to be a big huge honkin' problem, 'cause he was in desperate need of some cheap booze. Zoro was sick of all the 'fine' wine, Sanji served for dinner and unfortunately he had used up all of his dearly loved Sake he always hid under 'Usopp's factory'.

He had been as dry as Arabasta's desert for nearly a week now and was, to put it with Nami's words, a pain in the ass that needed a good beating. She had also been the first one to suggest, he'd go and find a pub to get drunk real fast and then come back before she decided to leave him right on this island.

Nami had told him exactly where to go and how the pub was called (some guy at the harbor had offered his help; he had seemed more than happy to do so when he had found out that Nami was quite some woman to look at... Sanji had shortened their conversation immediately, leaving behind a lovely bootprint on the guy's forehead...), but Zoro hadn't been in the mood to listen to her and had conked, her words entering his head through one ear and leaving them unheard through the other one.

"Dammit..." He muttered under his breath, walking across the street onto the other side. He found an alley and entered it.  
He didn't know the right way anyway... maybe he was lucky and found it by accident!

As he was walking seemingly carelessly through the dim alleyway, he trained his ears on some faint noise coming from some meters behind him... somebody was following him.

Rolling his eyes, he played absently with the hilts of his katanas.  
Even here, he wasn't safe from unnerving, idiotic bounty hunters...

Again his ears caught the sound of bare feet running over the cold paving stone towards him.  
He inhaled once deeply, drew his Yubashili in one swift movement and spinned around in a fraction of a second.

The street behind him was deserted...

'Huh?' He frowned into the silence and was just about to sheathe his sword, when he felt a small, almost careful tug on his trouser leg.

The frown deepened, when his eyes wandered down to the source of the moving fabric on his leg and found a small, brightly smiling girl staring up at him, one little fist clenched around the material of his trouser tightly.

Sweatdropping, he waited for something to happen... maybe some angry parents calling for their spoiled brat to leave him alone... but unfortunately no such thing happened.

Making a face in disgust, he stared at the hand that gripped onto his trouser, knowing that he would find lovely, slimy handprints of all kind of sweets and food on the fabric later on... kids were just too damn sticky! They should eat more 'un-sticky' stuff, like meat!

Not knowing what else to do, he took hold of her hand and removed it from his leg, bewildered eyes watching the girl all the while. Zoro then sheathed his Yubashili and stepped away from the kid, gaining some space between the two of them.

He kept on staring at her for another few moments, trying to ignore the happiness in her dark brown eyes. But when she made no move to say anything, and nobody decided to attack out of an ambush, the green haired man turned on his heels and walked into the direction he had been heading in just some seconds ago.

"Wait!"

He stopped dead in the middle of the alley, frozen to the spot as he stared with wide eyes into nothingness.  
'What the hell...?' He thought as he listened again to the sound of small bare feet running straight towards him.

"Thank you... my name is Mayu. I'm six." She told him, a broad smile covering the better part of her rosy face as she showed him six of her tiny fingers. One front tooth was missing, but Zoro could already see the first sign of its white successor breaking through pink gum.

"Are you Roronoa Zoro?" She asked him,a small frown appearing as she regarded him with her inquisitive eyes.  
But Zoro didn't answer.

He was so not in the mood to talk with that brat! He needed a good drink, asap, and wasn't going to delay his mission just to play a part in this silly question-answer-game!

Grunting, he turned away again, ignoring Mayu pointedly.  
But apparently, she wasn't somebody who gave up easily!

This time, he didn't wait for her and kept on walking to where he saw the end of the alley. Mayu soon caught up with him, but had a hard time staying by his side. Zoro on the other hand had the feeling that he wold have a hard time getting rid of her,  
considering her current tempo and egerness to look into his face.

"So, are you Roronoa Zoro? Well, you have three swords and this one is 'the' Wado Ichi Monchi, my father keeps on telling me about... "Jaws set, Zoro listened to the girl's rambling and stared ahead to where he saw the crossroad, hoping she would soon shut up to breathe...

"You also wear that cool bandana around your left arm and you have green hair! I'm a huge fan of yours and you're my idol"  
Exhaling sharply, Zoro turned around the corner, staring ahead to look for something resembling a pub and felt relief lifting the headache from his temples, when his eyes spotted one shabby-looking door, leading into a bar. Grey smoke seemed to flee out of the door towards the rooftop, being another sure indication that he had found what he had been searching for.

Turning back towards his pursuer, Zoro suddenly noticed the change in her tone of voice and the concern in her face and eyes.  
Mayu was still talking, though with a hushed voice now.

"Sorry, but can't you talk? Are you mute? Or maybe somebody cut out your tongue!" She asked him, curiosity mixing with horror at the thought of latter possibility.

Again Zoro rolled his eyes and thought about whether to answer or just leave her in such a stupid belief, when the kid suddenly took his hand, gaining his attention at once.

"Or are you deaf?!" She yelled up at him in typical child-fashion, thinking a deaf person could hear her if she spoke louder.

He had to fight against the twitching muscle of his right eye, but a vain popped up on his forehead as his ears turned red in anger.  
"No, dammit! I'm not deaf and my tongue is working fine! Get lost kid or I'll show you what my swords are for!!" Zoro yelled back, angry now and face turning also slowly red.

He stared at her shocked face for another few seconds, giving her his best 'death-glare' (normally reserved only for his worst enemies or Nami and Sanji), before turning around and walking bruskly to the entrance of the pub. He entered the bar without looking back, but his ears told him satisfyingly that the kid had run away into the opposite direction.

Grinning cheekily, he headed straight towards the bar and sat down on one of the high stools, lifting his right index finger to get the bartender's attention. Zoro ordered "the cheapest booze ya have" and waited patiently for it to arrive.

The stuff, the smelly guy had brought, didn't taste/smell/look particularly good or healthy, but it wasn't expensive and he therefor didn't need to use the money he had leant from Usopp (he'd never ever in his whole damn life ask Nami to give him even one damn Belly!! He'd rather starve and die of thirst!)

Zoro just swallowed it down without allowing the liquid to linger on his tongue for too long, waiting for the burning in his throat to subside before ordering another round.

He was just about to touch the dirty glass to his lips, when he heard somebody grunting as the person tried to climb up the barstool to his right. Sighing, the swords fighter turned his head to the source of the noise, finding the brat from earlier plopping down onto the (for her ratio) way too high stool.

She could barely look across the counter, but she nonetheless lifted her index finger and waited for the bartender to finally notice her attempt to order. "Gimme an apple juice!"

The man behind the bar frowned down at her and kept on polishing a beer glas which would never get clean again.  
"Huh? Sorry, sweety, but don't ya think you're too young for this bar"  
"Nope! I got money and I want something for it!"

Bewildered (both the bartender 'and' Zoro) he gave her a small glass, rinsed it with some water and poured some yellow liquid into it. The irritated man carefully gave her the glass and watched her curiously for a while, waiting until she was halfway through the content without having spilled anything on the freshly polished counter.

Mayu made some funny sounds as she licked her lips clean from the juice and Zoro watched her in the corner of his eyes.  
He didn't have to wait long before she turned back towards him, eyes wide as she regarded him with a long, scrutinizing look.  
"So you 'can' talk! And I thought you weren't Roronoa Zoro, the best bounty hunter ever and one of the most famous pirates and swords fighter on the Grand Line!"

Eyes wide, Zoro turned around, looking for anybody who could have heard her here, but fortunately everybody in this pub either didn't care for pirates or was too drunk to react. He really didn't want a fight right now. Only a good drink.

"Could you just shut up!" He snapped angrily and glared at the smirking child. 'Dammit'  
"I knew it! You are the great Zoro!!" She exclaimed excitedly, throwing her arms up and bouncing around on the dangerously swaying stool.

Shaking his head in defeat, he pulled a bill out of his boot and threw it onto the counter. Zoro then downed the rest of his booze and got up, sweeping his hand across his mouth. He turned and was about to leave, when he heard a loud angry voice from behind him.

"Hey! That ain't enough!" The loud voice of the bartender echoed through the gloomy room.  
"What the hell..." Zoro turned around angrily, ready to tell that idiot to fuck off and learn counting, when he noticed that the broad man was yelling down at the girl, who was standing rigidly in front of the counter, her neck craned in an awkward angle as she tried to look at the man.

"Got a prob?" Zoro asked, stepping forward, one hand resting casually on the hilts of his swords.  
"Yeah, that brat ain't have enough cash to pay for her juice!"

Zoro looked down to where Mayu was still standing glued to the spot, her tiny fists clenched as she obviously fought against the impulse to just run away and cry. Something about the way she was staring at the angry red face of the bartender made somehing twitch inside Zoro. He sighed loudly and jammed his left hand into his trouser pocket.

"Here." Throwing another bill onto the counter, he had fished out of his pocket, Zoro glared profoundly at the other man, daring him to even think about letting another comment slip. To his luck, the bartender took the bill and looked away, not deigning to look at either of them.

"Come on." Zoro told the girl. He turned back towards the door and stepped out of the pub, waiting in the middle of the small street until he heard the door swinging shut behind the kid.

"Thank you." He heard her mumble, sounding as if she was gnawing on her lower lip. He didn't acknowledge her, instead he kept on staring ahead, arms crossed in front of his chest as he watched an old woman doing her laundry. She was just about to take off a white handkerchief from the line, when somebody called her back inside the house. She vanished without her clothes.

"What do ya want anyway? Ya follow me, get onto my nerves and you cost me money I don't have! What the heck do you 'want"  
Zoro asked her, spinning around so that he was now facing her, his large form towering above her.

Mayu didn't answer straight away. She merely looked down her right hand, where her tiny fingers gripped tightly onto the black hilt of a large sword that rested in a long brown scabbard. Zoro hadn't noticed it before and wondered whether she had hidden it somewhere after she had entered the pub.

"I want to become the greatest swords fighter of the world!" Mayu suddenly blurted out.

Frowning, Zoro regarded her with a blank look.  
That little brat, who wasn't even tall enough to look over a counter and who had barely enough strength to hold such a heavy sword, wanted to become a swords fighter?

Mayu noticed the disbelief in Zoro's eyes and set her jaws, trying to look angry and dangerous while she tightened her grip around the sword's hilt. With her other hand, she swept a strand of hair out of her eyes and than took the scabbard. With much effort she managed to pull out the large, polished sword and held it in an awkward way threateningly at Zoro.

"I'll become the greatest swords fighter ever!! I promised it!! And therefor I have to beat you!!"

One coner of his mouth pulled up in a lopsided grin, Zoro pulled out one of his own swords, holding it easily at arm's length.  
He made no other move, but his eyes stared expectantly at the small girl in front of him.

She was breathing heavily, having obviously problems keeping the sword from falling onto the floor. Mayu's cheeks had turned deep red and she still tried to glare up at her opponent.

"So?" Zoro finally asked, his expression turning almost serious again.  
"Beating me is nothing special. You won't become the greatest swords fighter just because you made some ex-bounty hunter cry. I'm not the one you should be concerned about, so go and play elsewhere with that thing. It's too dangerous for ya anyway."

"What?" Mayu looked up bewilderd. Again the strand of hair covered partially her eyes and she had to let go of the sword with one hand to pull it back behind her ear. But that action caused her to lose her grip on the weapon and it swayed from side to side while the kid tried to gain back its balance.

tshink

The two swords were crossed, Zoro's Wado Ichi Monchi preventing the black sword of Mayu from falling onto the dirty paved floor.  
The girl looked down at her hands, tears welling up behind her eyes as she treid to hold back a sob.

"But, aren't you Zoro? The great Roronoa Zoro? The best swords fighter of the world"  
The green haired man listened as she pulled up her nose.

"Yeah, I'm Zoro... but I'm not the greatest swords fighter. Yet. I still gotta have to beat Mihawk, before I can call me that"  
He told her solemnly, slowly advancing towards her and taking hold of her large heavy sword. Zoro carefully pulled it out of her loose grasp and sheathed it in the scattered scabbard.

"I know that you still have to beat him... but I don't doubt that you'll succeed, so why should you doubt your victory? 'I'  
know that you're the greatest swords fighter the world has ever seen and one day I'll beat you in a fight"  
Mayu then looked up, staring right into Zoro's eyes, daring him to controdict.

He didn't.

Zoro shook his head slightly, a cheeky grin covering his face as he looked down at the little girl.  
"Ya know... if you keep on training, you'll probably beat me one day."

He could see the joy filling her slightly red eyes.  
"But you should do something about your hair. If it keeps slipping in front of your eye, you won't be able to fight properly."

Zoro turned on his heels and headed to one of the small houses lining the street. Reaching out, he pulled the white handkerchief, the old woman had left behind, down from the line and folded it triangularly.  
"Here." He handed Mayu his 'present' and watched her as she covered her brownish hair with it, tying the two ends together in her neck.

"Hihihi... now I'm able to fight like you!!" She told him happily, smiling brightly up at him, arms akimbo.  
"Go home and stop getting onto my nerves." Zoro grunted the order under his breath and made a dismissive motion with his hand.

Mayu bowed slightly and took a better hold on the large sword.  
Smiling almost shyly, she suddenly started running into the opposite direction. Zoro didn't look after her, but when he couldn't hear the sound of the scabbard being dragged behind the kid anymore, he shook his head again and turned back to where he had come from, heading back towards the Going Merry.

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"Hey!! Where have you dumbhead been?" Nami demanded angrily, standing at the railing of the straw hat pirates' ship, arms crossed in front of her chest and a dark glare directed down at the man who was just about to climb up the ladder towards her.

"None of your business, so just leave me the hell alone!" Zoro snapped back, jumping across the railing and landing with a 'bonk' on the deck beside the navigator.

"I told ya, I wouldn't wait for ya, so thank Luffy and those two scary cats that I stayed another 'three' hours"  
"Man, Nami! I got lost, alright!! Was your fault anyway, that I didn't find the bar in the first place"  
"Tell me you have at least bought some Sake!"

"Yeah, yeah..." He showed her a bag and started to walk to where Usopp and Chopper were standing outside the kitchen, fighting about some new invention of the sharp-shooter.

"Hey, Zoro! What did you do all day long?" The little reindeer asked curiously, smelling the faint scent of another person on Zoro's trouser as the man walked past them. Usopp had immediately noticed the dirty handprint on the dark fabric and too wanted to know about it.

"Met a fan"  
Was all he said, before he disappeared inside the ship.

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FINIS!!

Did ya like it? Press the review button and tell me about your feelings/thoughts/concerns!! See ya!


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